Me: Whatever needs doing that night?
DW: Whatever needs doing that night. That's what my dad told me. When I first started playing basketball, my dad was the first one who was never, never patted me on the back when I scored 30. He always wanted me to be a complete player; he always wanted me to be a team player. I didn't get it early on, and as I got to high school, my high school coach was the same way. My college coach was the same way. So I've always been, whatever the team needs, I play a team sport. I don't play an individual sport. And you can still get everything you want in the midst of that. You can still star in it. It hasn't changed anything in my life, coming off the bench, at all. I understand that.
Me: How important was it for you that your kids got to see you in that uniform again?
DW: I think especially for my oldest son, Zaire, I think it was great. Obviously me being home, but it's just like everyone else -- I look right to him in a Heat jersey. He's getting older, he's 16 years old, and he got to feel the love. My youngest son Zion, he gets to feel the love of the city. They come home and we're talking, and he says 'dad, everyone's so happy you're back.' It has to feel good for them as well. I know as a 36-year-old athlete, to still have my kids proud of me and not saying little smart comments like kids do, it feels good.
2:00 Me: You mentioned that this was the right time to come back. Was that especially acute given what happened at Stoneman Douglas, and with the young man that really was a fan of yours that was killed in the shooting?
DW: Something's going on in the world, and it speaks to you. You try to get involved and you try to get into it. When something happens in your backyard, it's even tougher. We represent, the Miami Heat represents the state of Florida. And not just on the entertainment side, off the court. And I've learned that from the Miami Heat organization. This situation happened, and you start hearing all the stories from all the kids. From a basketball side, and being fans of mine and the Miami Heat, the only thing we can do for the families is to honor them -- obviously by the way we play, but honoring the school. Putting the hashtag on my shoes. Honoring a young man who was buried in my jersey. Continuing to make sure that the kids who was lost, that their legacy in life continues to live on. Just keep talking about them, moreso than the one who took their lives. Let's not put the light on him; let's put it on the 17 young lives that was lost. It's definitely, myself and Udonis (Haslem) and other guys that's been trying to do things to impact the families, try to impact the community as much as possible during this tough time. It's our duty, I feel, as public figures and figureheads in the state to do that.
Me: And not shut up and dribble.
DW: Definitely. We're never going to do that. I love athletes today, nowadays, feeling confident to step up and stand out, and talk about things that they believe in. We're, we might make a lot of money, we might be on TV, we might be looked at, but we're part of the community. We hear the community. We hear what everybody's talking about. And we understand that their voices might not be heard the way our voices would be heard. Like I said, it's my duty to speak for them as well. We might not have the same challenges that our community is having, but it's our job to not only give back and do things that we do, but also be the voice and be the face for our community. And that's what we're doing.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
-- Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu), Tuesday, 3 p.m. Well, at least it's different from "LeBron to the Lakers" or "LeBron to the Sixers" or "LeBron to the Rockets." He could have been a hell of a tight end if he'd gone that route, to be sure.
THEY SAID IT
"It's not even worth talking about those Magic years, and it's definitely not worth talking about those Knicks years. That part of the story is like the end of Goodfellas, when everybody's getting jammed up and ratting on each other and they're driving around looking up in the sky for police helicopters. It was a mess, man. I got to both of those teams, and it takes you like five minutes of being in the locker room before you realize: Nope. No wins here."
-- Former Houston Rockets star Steve Francis, in The Players' Tribune, recalling some of his wild ride from the streets of D.C. as a kid, to being a Lottery pick of the Grizzlies, to playing with Yao Ming in Houston, to being unceremoniously dumped to Orlando late in his career, to being done at age 32.
"I can't control what the other team's gonna fee. I'm just gonna go out there and hoop and whoever takes it to heart and takes their losses salty, I can't do anything about that."
-- Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, to the Los Angeles Times' Tania Ganguli, after Lakers coach Luke Walton said that Murray had, for the second time this season, been "disrespectful" to his team in the waning moments of a game, both Denver victories.
"We know we've disappointed the fans and we haven't won enough. I can tell you this team works really hard and Stan works hard. He's been here for four years and has dedicated his whole life. We talked the other day and I'm not giving up on Stan and I'm not giving up on this team."
-- Pistons owner Tom Gores, to local reporters, in the midst of what looks like another year without a playoff berth for Detroit, which has made the postseason just once in Stan Van Gundy's first three years there as team president and coach.
* * *
Longtime NBA reporter, columnist and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer David Aldridge is an analyst for TNT. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here andfollow him on Twitter.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.
0 Response to "Morning Tip Q&A: Dwyane Wade - NBA.com"
Post a Comment